Holly's House
by halfadozentimes
Summary: Nick and Monroe come across Holly's tree house while out in the woods. Nick/Monroe developed relationship oneshot.


Nick pushed himself to run faster despite the ever-tightening pain in his chest, knowing that he'd be dead if he stopped. He had started out in the woods behind his house, but was now out God knows where, just trying to get away from what was chasing him. He had lost track of how long he had been running for his life, but to his lungs it felt like years. He could hear the creature that was running behind him getting closer by the second, so close in fact that he could hear it growl.

When you go jogging in the woods every day for a year, your heart and lungs get used to it as well as your legs. Nick could proudly say that jogging not only helped him in his job, but also in the rare event of getting chased down in the woods by something that should only exist in a book.

Nick knew that he was falling too far behind, but even for someone who jogged all the time, running without pacing yourself will get old really quickly. His heart was pounding at a ridiculous rate, his lungs were burning and making his breath come short, and he knew he had lost when he felt claws on his shoulder, pulling him back. He hit the ground on his back, wincing at the feeling of sticks and rocks digging into his skin, as the thing that had been chasing him leaned down over him.

"Not fast enough," it growled in his ear, hardly sounding human.

Nick paused to take a deep breath before muttering, "Damn it, Monroe."

Monroe smiled, back to a regular guy by the time he was off of Nick. He offered the shorter man a hand, pulling him to his feet before brushing the dirt off of his shirt.

"Not bad for a Grimm."

"Honestly, how likely is it that I'll ever have to run through the woods to keep away from a Blutbad?" Nick groaned, rubbing a spot on his back that had hit a rock pretty hard.

"Well if you'd like, we can make a habit of it," Monroe smirked.

"Yeah, no, let's not do that. Now, would you care to get us back home?"

"No way, Nick, we might as well explore while we're out here."

"Didn't you get enough of this forest while chasing me through it?" Nick protested, but followed Monroe forward all the same.

They continued forward for a bit longer, exploring the plants growing all around, getting their shoes soaked while crossing a creek, and enjoying the scenery. They were both pretty worn out and hungry from the chase, so Monroe located a few different edible leaves and berries for them. Nick wasn't too sure about them at first, but ate his share once he saw that they weren't doing Monroe any harm.

"Hey, look up there; it looks like a tree house." Monroe pointed to a tree up ahead, the rays of the evening sun shining down on what definitely appeared to be a tree house. "Come on, let's go look."

They didn't have to get much closer before Nick recognized the decent sized wooden structure, picking up his pace a little bit. He fell in line next to Monroe and asked, "Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty damn well built tree house. The workmanship on this thing is great," Monroe marveled, even from a few yards away.

"No, Monroe, it's not just any tree house. This is Holly's tree house."

Monroe looked at Nick, then back at the tree house, and then they both started jogging until they reached the trunk of the tree. Monroe started climbing the steps up to the tree house, with Nick on his heels.

Lord knows how Holly had managed to keep an air mattress from busting for so long, but it was still in working order and placed in the middle of the tree house. Nick and Monroe spent a little while just looking over everything that Holly had collected over the years. There was a lot of camping gear scattered across the floor, an old torn up sweater in one corner, and a few dried up berries.

"Could you imagine living here all alone? Having to fend for yourself as just a kid?" Monroe sat down carefully on the air mattress, looking up at Nick.

"Definitely not. But then again I'm not a Blutbad, so."

"Well you are a pretty badass Grimm if I do say so myself," Monroe grinned as Nick sat down next to him.

"Oh, am I?"

"Definitely." Monroe placed his hand at the back of Nick's head, holding him still as he kissed him gently.

"I'd never do it without you, though," Nick commented after the kiss, his breath ghosting over Monroe's lips.

"Don't worry, Nick. You won't have to."


End file.
